Downtown corridor converted to two-way street to curb rush hour congestion

Starting on October 15, 5 Avenue S.W. will become a two-way street between 5 Street S.W. and the west-end of downtown.

The city says its lane reversal project to move traffic out of the core quicker during the evening commute is a big success and it is moving ahead with plans to turn 5th Avenue into a two-way operation.

On May 19, the city implemented a trial lane reversal on 5th Avenue S.W. between 7 Street and the west-end of downtown, between the hours of 3:30 and 6:30 p.m., to help outbound traffic flow.

The city says it has seen increased use of the system by Calgarians since then and determined during a traffic count in September that over 840 vehicles were using the route between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

After monitoring the system for several months and hearing from commuters, officials decided to extend the lane reversal by two blocks.

“Since May, the Transportation Department has monitored the 5 Avenue S.W. lane reversal,” said Ravi Seera, City of Calgary Traffic Manager. “During the lane reversal trial we heard from citizens that a two block extension would make westbound travel on 5 Avenue more convenient.”

The Transportation Department is implementing the following changes to 5 Avenue S.W. starting on Thursday, October 15:

The city says the two-way traffic operation on 5^th Avenue will:

“Allowing two-way traffic operations for most of the day will reduce congestion and provide better traffic circulation in the area using the city’s existing infrastructure,” said Seera.

During the six-month pilot, temporary control devices will be in place to define the two-way operation.

For more information on the 5 Avenue S.W. traffic operation, click HERE.